Simply better: The University strategy

Our mission: to change the world for the better

The University of Southampton is an exceptional place whose people achieve remarkable things. We are a world-leading, research-intensive university, with a strong educational offering, renowned for our innovation and enterprise. This is a great platform from which to sharpen our focus with our new strategy.

It’s a very simple strategy. It’s about our aspirations. It’s about building our reputation. It’s about being simply better than our competitors at what we do.

Our strategy

We will strengthen our reputation, increasing our national and international rankings to secure a position in the top 10 in the UK and top 100 internationally.

A reputation for delivering excellence and an exemplary student experience will lead to greater demand from the best student applicants, sustained support from research funders and strong support from our alumni.

Supporting strategies

We have three supporting strategies underpinning our University strategy, these are:

Discover more about our strategy

Our values

All of our activities will be underpinned by the values determined by our community:

Excellence

We aspire to be the best in all we do, inspiring the confidence and ambition that enable our staff and students to reach their full potential.

Creativity

We are imaginative and resourceful, thriving in an environment that values independent thought and encourages originality and innovation amongst its staff and students.

Community

We achieve more together; we are an inclusive, collegial community that builds tolerance, respect, and mutual support amongst staff and students.

Integrity

We are committed to the highest standards. Our personal and institutional conduct is consistent and honest, engendering trust between and within our University communities.

Our vision

Our University community is committed to the highest quality in everything we do.

We have a global reputation for our passion and ability to work collaboratively in delivering world-class education, research and innovation that makes a real impact on society’s biggest challenges.

Our exceptional students share in these journeys of discovery and become confident thinkers who can realise their full potential.

Our future success

“We will develop graduates who are confident global citizens, equipped to make a positive contribution to the world. Our knowledge and technologies, developed through our research and applied through our enterprise, will have real economic and social benefit for the world.

People will choose Southampton because of its reputation for quality and to play a part in changing the world. Our staff will say it is a great place to work, where they are encouraged to be creative and are part of a team that achieves more together.

We will be a university consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally and top 100 internationally. Our student satisfaction will be among the highest in the country, reflected in the National Student Survey (NSS). Our graduate prospects will be among the best. Our entry tariff will reflect our reputation as a leading university, with completion rates and good degrees reflecting our commitment to fully developing the potential of our students.

Our world-leading research will underpin an excellent Research Excellence Framework (REF) position. We will achieve all of this while improving our sustainability and generating a surplus that allows us to invest in our University.”

Professor Sir Christopher Snowden, President & Vice-Chancellor

Our goals

It is important that we set ourselves a number of challenging but achievable goals. These are aligned to our four principles and will be instrumental in achieving our strategic ambitions.

Collegiality (innovation and growth/people)

Quality (internal process)

Provide an excellent staff experience

Improve management and leadership at all levels

Develop agile governance and increased risk appetite.

Improve the student experience

Develop high-quality systems and infrastructure

Improve the quality of research applications

Develop five strategic partnerships each worth >£5m

Improve the quality of the students we recruit

Increase numbers of international students

Improve student employability

Recruit and retain high-quality staff.

National and international reputation (customer)

Sustainability (financial)

Improve league table rankings and reputation

Improve the quality of our education

Grow a strong international alumni community

Deliver impactful research.

Deliver the ability to invest

Develop sustainable smooth income

Improve research overhead recovery

Improve productivity

Increase revenue from ‘other’ sources (eg philanthropy).

Delivering the vision

We have a coherent set of plans to help us achieve our strategic goals.